Dry winter drains reservoirs, ruins crops in Spain, Portugal

Aceredo, Feb. 13 (BUS): The surfaces peeking out from the water become a common sight every summer in the Lindoso Reservoir in northwest Spain. In particularly dry years, parts of the ancient village of Aceredo, which was submerged three decades ago when a hydroelectric dam flooded the valley, will appear.

But never before had the entire village skeleton appeared in the middle of a usually rainy winter.

With almost no rain for two months and not much expected anytime soon, the ruins of Aceredo stir up a mix of emotions for locals as they see the rusty car body, a still-spouting stone fountain and the old road leading to what used to be a local strip.

The whole place was vineyards and orange trees. Everything was green. “It was beautiful,” said 72-year-old Jose Luis Benin, who used to stop by the pub with his friends at the end of a day’s fishing.

“Look at it now,” said Benin, who lives in the same county, pointing to the bottom of the cracked yellow reservoir. “This sad.”

While the arid regions of the Iberian Peninsula have historically experienced periods of drought, experts say climate change has exacerbated the problem. This year, amid record levels of little or no rainfall, farmers in both Portugal and Spain, who are planting crops across Europe, are concerned that their crops for the season will be ruined, the Associated Press (AP) reports.

In the last three months of 2021, Spain recorded only 35% of the average rainfall it experienced during the same period from 1981 to 2010. But there has been almost no rain since then.

According to the national weather agency AEMET, in this century, only in 2005 there was a month of January with almost no rain. If the clouds are not unleashed in the next two weeks, authorities said, emergency support for farmers will be needed.

But Ruben del Campo, a weather service spokesman, said below-average rainfall over the past six months is likely to continue for several more weeks, hoping spring will bring much-needed relief.

While only 10% of Spain has been officially declared under a “prolonged drought”, there are vast regions, particularly in the south, facing severe shortages that could affect crop irrigation.

The valley around the Guadalquivir River in southwestern Spain was declared under a prolonged drought in November. It is now the focus of a fierce environmental dispute over water rights near Doñana National Park, a World Heritage wetland site. Andalusia’s regional government wants to grant water rights to farmers in land near the park, but critics say the move will further endanger an already major wildlife refuge.

“The past two or three years have been dry, with a tendency towards less and less rain,” said Andres Gongora, a 46-year-old tomato farmer in southern Almeria.

Góngora, who expects the water he uses from the desalination plant to be rationed, is still better off than other farmers who specialize in wheat and grain to feed livestock.

“This year’s grain crops were lost,” Gongura said.

Other areas in central and northeastern Spain are also feeling the burn.

The leading association of farmers and ranchers in Spain, COAG, warns that half of Spanish farms are threatened by drought this year. It says that if it doesn’t rain heavily next month, rain-fed crops including cereals, olives, nuts and vineyards could lose 60% to 80% of their yield.

But the association is also concerned about crops that depend on irrigation, with reservoirs less than 40% of their capacity in much of the south.

Spain’s left-wing government plans to allocate more than 570 million euros ($647 million) from the European Union’s Epidemic Recovery Fund to make irrigation systems more efficient, including integrating renewable energy systems.

Spain’s Agriculture Minister Luis Planas said this week that the government will take emergency measures if it doesn’t rain within two weeks. These are likely to be limited to economic benefits to mitigate crop and revenue losses for farmers.

Neighboring Portugal has also seen little rain since last October. By the end of January, 45% of the country had “extreme” or “extreme” drought conditions, according to the national weather agency IPMA.

Rainfall from October 1 through January was less than half the annual average for the four-month period, alarming farmers suffering from a lack of grass for their livestock.

Unusually, even northern Portugal is dry and wildfires have broken out there this winter. In the south, crickets are already singing at night and mosquitoes have appeared – traditional signs of summer.

The IPMA does not expect any relief before the end of the month.

Portugal has seen an increase in the frequency of droughts over the past 20-30 years, according to IPMA climatologist Vanda Pearce, as rainfall decreases and temperatures rise.

“It’s part of the climate change context,” Peiris said.

And the outlook is grim: Scientists estimate that Portugal will see a 20% to 40% drop in average annual precipitation by the end of the century.

HF